The goal of the “Living in Your Top 1%” interview series is to break down the qualities of people who excel and to show that you can be successful and achieve personal greatness from any starting point in your life. The interview series looks at people from all different careers and industries. Some names will be familiar and others may not. The purpose is to understand and borrow from the “best practices” of winners to develop a roadmap to YOUR TOP 1%. We will share a new story each month.

This week’s guest is Lori Deschene, the founder of Tiny Buddha which is one of the most popular Facebook and Twitter sites with 65,000 and 230,000 devoted fans!

In 2008, Lori Deschene held a full-time web content manager job that felt more like a paycheck than a purpose. Looking to inject meaning into her online activities, Lori began tweeting a daily inspirational quote through her twitter account (@tinybuddha). This simple daily dose of wisdom quickly attracted a large readership, with over 230,000 followers to date. In the fall of 2009, Lori launched tinybuddha.com as a place where individuals from all over the world could share stories and lessons about applying those ideas to everyday life.

In an overcrowded space about inspiration on the internet, Tiny Buddha has emerged as a place for people to share their thoughts and be heard. Tiny Buddha’s tagline is, “Simple wisdom for complex lives.” Lori’s first book, Tiny Buddha, Simple Wisdom for Life’s Hardest Questions, comes out in January 2012.

Alissa Finerman: What’s the most important strength you possess that allows you to be successful in your role?Lori Deschene: The strengths that help me the most with tinybuddha.com are my empathy and honesty. I launched the site because I spent a lot of my life clinging to pain, and I understood how difficult it can be to let go, empower yourself, and commit to creating happiness.

I wanted to design a space where we can all help each other by sharing the things that might make us feel vulnerable. In this way, we’d know that we are never alone, and we are all here to support each other.

My compassion is what drives me to help people; my honesty allows others to help me. And though I may be the leader of the Tiny Buddha community, this balance is what makes me first and foremost a friend.

AF: What does success mean for you?LD: Success, for me, is maintaining a schedule that allows me abundant time with the people I love; finding a little time every day to do the things that make me feel happy and healthy; operating with integrity; honoring my values; and pushing myself to do the things I want to do, even when they might be outside my comfort zone.

AF: What motivates you on a daily basis to keep going?LD: I keep going because I can’t imagine stopping. I love Tiny Buddha, and I love how my life has evolved because of it. I love sharing my struggles, experiences, and insights. I love the experience of working with writers to help tell their stories and hone their messages. I love the conversations that build around the posts. Lastly, I love that Tiny Buddha supports both my personal and professional growth.

AF: What role do goals play in your life? Tell us a few words about your goal setting process.LD: I generally aim to set only one or two large goals at a time, and then I manage them with a very Type-A system of to-do lists, deadlines, and regular progress evaluations. I aim to set SMART goals—specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time-bound. However, I’ve learned that the most important part of goal-setting, for me at least, is flexibility. In the past, I’ve attached to very specific plans and outcomes, and this led to stress and missed opportunities. If I can create a vision and hold it lightly, I can open up to beautiful possibilities I may not have imagined.

AF: What challenges did you have to overcome to start Tiny Buddha? Did people support or doubt your idea?LD: I was my biggest challenge. I launched the site in the fall of 2009, more than a year after the Twitter account. At this point, there were already 50,000 people following, and they were accustomed to receiving just one daily quote. I felt hesitant to link too much on the Twitter account, and I also didn’t want to turn Tiny Buddha into something that was all about me—my blog, my stories, and my insights. I wanted it to be about us. This was what prompted me to run Tiny Buddha as a community blog. This is also why I rarely tweet more than four times a day. I believe less is more. I didn’t, at the time, have people around me who doubted my idea, but I did with my previous blog (which was about positive thinking). A man I was dating told me that people don’t care about other people as much as I think, and that they wouldn’t regularly visit a site about positivity and happiness.

Tiny Buddha presents a more balanced perspective, but the underlying messages are similar. Contrary to what he told me, I have found that people do care.

AF: What are some of your most meaningful accomplishments? LD: One of my proudest moments was moving into the first apartment I rented on my own (without roommates). Three years prior to that, I lived in a 7’x 7’ room in a single-room-occupancy building in NYC, and I felt certain I would always be depressed, isolated, and deeply unsatisfied with myself and my life. It was the culmination of years of low-self esteem and bad decision-making, but also the start of a whole new way of thinking and being. In the following years, I didn’t really recognize all the progress I’d made until I looked around at the external change and realized the internal change that helped create it.

Another meaningful accomplishment is my first book, Tiny Buddha, Simple Wisdom for Life’s Hardest Questions. I started by asking my Twitter followers a series of difficult questions including “What’s the meaning of life?” and “What does it take to be happy?” I then wrote the book around their responses, including stories from my own experience. I put my heart and soul into this book, and I can’t wait for it to come out in January 2012!

AF: What do the top performers do differently to excel?LD: I can’t speak for others but for me, I never consider myself on top. I think that’s what helps me excel: I have no clue where I am in relation to other people. I only know where I am in relation to where I’ve been. I take each day as it comes, and do my best to learn, grow, and improve.

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About AlissaThe “Living in Your Top 1%” interview series is presented by Alissa Finerman, an Executive Coach and Gallup Certified Strengths Coach, speaker and author of Living in YOUR Top 1%. She works with managers, C-suite executives and teams to leverage strengths, shift beliefs and achieve meaningful goals. Alissa has an MBA from the Wharton School and a BA from the University of California, Berkeley. She has worked with Ross Stores, Petco, BNP Paribas, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, Brookfield Property Partners, Neutrogena, Bristol-Myers Squibb and Dress for Success. To learn more about coaching with Alissa, please visit her website and follow her on Facebook

The goal of the “Top 1%er” interview series is to break down the qualities of people who excel and to show that you can be successful and achieve personal greatness from any starting point in your life. The interview series looks at people from all different careers and industries. Some names will be familiar and others may not. The purpose is to understand and borrow from the “best practices” of winners to develop a roadmap to your TOP 1%. We will share a new story each month.

This week’s guest is Evan Bailyn. Evan is an internet entrepreneur, bestselling author, and child advocate. He is primarily known as a search engine optimization expert, having used his ability to rank at the top of Google to build and sell five businesses, including one of the largest children’s websites online. His first book, Outsmarting Google, debuted to amazing reviews in mid-2011. Its sequel, Outsmarting Social Media, comes out in early 2012. Evan has been interviewed on ABC and Fox News and featured in The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. He is a frequent speaker, having keynoted numerous social media conferences, including Digital Hollywood and Social Media For Nonprofits. In 2010, he established The Evan Bailyn Foundation, which awards grants to groups that promote emotional awareness in children. In short, Evan is a social media genius and incredibly good person who cares and wants to make a difference in the world.

Alissa Finerman: What’s the most important strength you possess that allows you to be successful in your role?Evan Bailyn: An inspired optimism, and the complementary ability to ignore negative voices and distractions in order to focus on getting things done.

AF: What inspired you to start on your current path?EB: The truth is that a fear of failure is what drove me to be successful as an entrepreneur. I wanted to do something that was my own, that nobody could control or take away from me. I believed that if I put everything I had into it, it had to succeed, and it turns out I made the correct bet. When you believe in yourself, it is easy to bet on yourself, and you often come out ahead (though not always). But the times when I failed worried me so much that I just worked harder than the next guy to correct my errors and succeed next time.

AF: How do you define success?EB: Success is feeling comfortable each day being you and, simultaneously, preparing for a time beyond yourself by contributing energy to something that will outlast your time here on earth.

AF: What motivates you on a daily basis to keep going?EB: A love of life and people and a desire to experience my emotions fully and connect with others purely.

AF: What role do goals play in your life? Tell us a few words about your goal setting process.EB: I don’t do anything formal with regards to goal setting. Instead, I think of things that excite me and allow that excitement to evolve into a real thing.

AF: What’s the toughest challenge you successfully overcame?EB: When I was younger, I had trouble being myself – I was focused on pleasing others and being a good kid. I was essentially untrue to who I was. Through a huge amount of self-reflection, writing, and conversation, I eventually found my way.

AF: What are some of your most meaningful accomplishments?EB: My best accomplishments are being comfortable with who I am and my relationships with people I love and respect. The creation of the Evan Bailyn Foundation is one of my greatest accomplishments as well. I am also proud that I have authored 2 books, built a successful speaking career, and started one of the largest children’s websites online.

AF: What do the top performers do differently to excel?EB: They care, and they know how to get things done.

The goal of the “Top 1%er” interview series is to break down the qualities of people who excel and to show that you can be successful and achieve personal greatness from any starting point in your life. The interview series looks at people from all different careers and industries. Some names will be familiar and others may not. The purpose is to understand and borrow from the “best practices” of winners to develop a roadmap to your TOP 1%. We will share a new story each month.

This week’s guest is Gabrielle Bernstein. Gabrielle is a best-selling author and motivational speaker. She just released her second book, Spirit Junkie: A Radical Road to Self-Love and Miracles. The New York Times Sunday Styles section called Gabby “a new role-model.” She has great energy and is on a mission to bring more happiness into the world.

Alissa Finerman: What’s the most important strength you possess that allows you to be successful in your role?
Gabrielle Bernstein: My greatest strength is self-love. I’ve spent the past six years growing a really awesome relationship with myself. I have learned to forgive myself, honor myself, and love myself unconditionally. This self-love bleeds through everything I do. When you love and respect yourself the world loves and respects you back.

AF: What inspired you to start on your current path?GB: My own personal transformation is what inspired me to teach. I have worked hard to shift my perceptions from fear to love and therefore know how to access true happiness. Undergoing this miraculous shift became the catalyst for me to teach what I had learned.

In addition, I believe that to teach is to learn. The more I teach others how to embrace happiness the more happy I become.

AF: How do you define success?
GB: I believe success is an inside job. When we take the necessary steps to clear the blocks within, we reconnect to our true source of strength and power. Accessing this power is success!

AF: What motivates you on a daily basis to keep going?
GB: What motivates me most are the people in my community. Whether it’s women on my site herfuture.com (a social network for women to find mentors and be mentors) or people commenting on my vlog www.gabbyb.tv. These people who are served by the work motivate me to create more content daily. I see myself and my experiences in all of these people. Through their stories I am reminded of where I came from and I reconnect to where I’m going.

AF: What role do goals play in your life? Tell us a few words about your goal setting process?
GB: I believe in setting goals and then turning them over to the Universe for guidance. I’ve come to realize that the Universe has a much better plan than I do. I can set positive intentions for desired outcomes but I must always release them to the care of the Universe. Today, I understand that if I stay on a path of service and a commitment to love, then everything I desire will come into form but not always the exact way I planned it.

AF: What’s the toughest challenge(s) you successfully overcame?
GB: My greatest challenge was overcoming love addiction. I spent twenty-nine years severely codependent and living in fear that without a romantic partner I was incomplete. Because I was wiling to face these fears head on and experience all the pain that came with them I was able to recover. Releasing this addiction is my greatest accomplishment in life.

I am also extremely proud of my social networking site HerFuture.com, which has over 11,000 members!

AF: What do the top performers do differently to excel?
GB: I believe anyone who is living and performing at their highest capacity is connected to their authentic truth. True power is energetic freedom. When your energy flows freely you’re able to move mountains.

To learn more about Gabrielle Bernstein, please visit Gabbyb.tv. And check out her newest book, Spirit Junkie.

The goal of the “Top 1%er” interview series is to break down the qualities of people who excel and to show that you can be successful and achieve personal greatness from any starting point in your life. The interview series looks at people from all different careers and industries. Some names will be familiar and others may not. The purpose is to understand and borrow from the “best practices” of winners to develop a roadmap to your TOP 1%. We will share a new story each month.

This week’s guest is Karen Finerman. I wanted to include Karen (yes, we are first cousins) in my top 1%er series because she is an amazing example of a woman who is highly respected in the financial industry and maintains a very full life. Karen is the CEO of Metropolitan Capital, a value oriented hedge fund founded in 1992. She serves on the board of the Michael J. Fox Foundation and on the board of the Montefiore Hospital where she is the only women who serves on their investment committee. She is also a regular panelist on CNBC’s Fast Money. Karen was on the US Banker’s list of the 25 most powerful women in finance. Most importantly, Karen is down to earth and a quality person. She lives in NYC with her husband and four children.

Alissa Finerman: What’s the most important strength you possess that allows you to be successful in your role?
Karen Finerman: My most important strength is recognizing that I can always improve and learn more. It applies to every aspect of my life: as an investor, a TV panelist, a wife, mother, friend, etc.

AF: How do you define success?
KF: For me, success is about continually improving in any endeavor whether it involves investing, parenting, or being a better person. I read a lot and like to have at least one new book on my Kindle about investing, parenting, and self improvement every week. If I can learn one thing from each book and put it into practice, then I’m happy.

Successful moments to me include having a good interaction with my kids and helping them become better people, being in the moment since I always have so much going on, and finding companies that are undervalued. I try to always remember not to compare myself to others because it’s a waste of time and energy. It’s important to be mindful that we each have our own process.

AF: What inspired you to start your own money management firm?
KF: My mother inspired me to be financially independent, but she never said how. Money management seemed a good way to do it.

AF: You have a lot on your plate, how do you maintain balance in your life?
KF: Balance is really important and really difficult. You have to pick your spots. Every single thing can’t be the most important each day. But you really have to be present in the activity you’re focusing on. If you’re at work but thinking you should be at home with your kids and that makes you ineffective at work, then you not setting yourself up for success. For me, I have to be physically and mentally in the place I need to be, that means never working from home, or not helping my kids with their homework while I’m at work. When I’m on the air, I’m on the air. Also, my husband is extremely involved and incredibly organized. I can’t emphasis enough how important he is to making the whole thing work.

AF: What motivates you on a daily basis to keep going?
KF: The thing that motivates me on a daily basis is knowing that I can improve and reaching my potential.

AF: What role do goals play in your life? Tell us a few words about your
goal setting process?
KF: Goals are incredibly important — if you don’t know where you are going, how can you possibly get there? I try to have long range goals, but I also continually calibrate my short term goals. It’s very productive to break it down and say what can I get done today or this week. The more you clearly articulate, literally by just writing it down, the more you can get done.

AF: How big of a role does mindset play in reaching one’s highest
potential?
KF: We can accomplish so much more than we do if we would just focus our energies in a positive way to constantly move toward where we want to be. The key is to know where you want to be. Sometimes, we think we know want we want only to find out later we were wrong. And that’s part of the process!

AF: What are some of your most meaningful accomplishments?
KF: My most meaningful accomplishment will hopefully be to bring four healthy, responsible, energized people into adulthood (my children). Any mother thinks that. I also want to inspire women to take control of their lives by being financially independent: to recognize they are in control and not to surrender that control to someone else because it’s easier, less scary, more romantic or to fall prey to some other misconception.

AF: What do the top performers do differently to excel?
KF: Top performers are different: it’s that single-minded, relentless focus. It’s about perseverance no matter what the challenges, the eyes are always on the prize, and no obstacle pushes that prize out of sight or mind. For the top, top performers, it’s full steam ahead.

The “Living in YOUR Top 1%” interview series is presented by Alissa Finerman, an Executive Coach and Gallup Certified Strengths Coach, speaker and author of Living in YOUR Top 1%. She works with managers, C-suite executives and teams to leverage strengths, shift beliefs and achieve meaningful goals. Alissa has an MBA from the Wharton School and a BA from the University of California, Berkeley. She has worked with Ross Stores, Petco, BNP Paribas, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, Brookfield Property Partners, Neutrogena, Bristol-Myers Squibb and Dress for Success. To learn more about coaching with Alissa, please visit her website and follow her on Facebook

The goal of the “Top 1%er” interview series is to break down the qualities of people who excel and to show that you can be successful and achieve personal greatness from any starting point in your life. The interview series looks at people from all different careers and industries. Some names will be familiar and others may not. The purpose is to understand and borrow from the “best practices” of winners to develop a roadmap to your TOP 1%. We will share a new story each month.

This week’s guest is Zoe Jackson, a rising star under 25! As a result of being offered a place at the National Youth Theatre, Zoe created the Living the Dream Performing Arts Company in 2006 at the age of 16 (based in the UK). She decided that a great way to subsidize her course fees would be to create her own performing arts company and produce shows in order to provide a spotlight for young people to showcase their talent, not just on stage, but behind the scenes as well. In 2009, Zoe won an award by the PR company, Ing Media, as one of the Top Ten Teenagers in the UK, for her role in inspiring other young people. In April 2011, she received the St Albans Mayor’s Pride Award for Cultural Innovation.

The performing arts company gives young people the chance to take part in something affordable, accessible, fun and exciting! Over the last five years, her company has grown beyond recognition and is made up of over 350 talented young people, aged 5-25 who take part in classes, events, showcases and flash-mobs in a youth led environment.

Living the Dream is providing a positive role model for young people and making a true difference in the world. Thank you Zoe!

Alissa Finerman: What’s the most important strength you possess that allows you to be successful in your role?
Zoe Jackson: Passion and determination. I have a very strong passion for inspiring young people to believe in themselves and what they are capable of, a passion for the performing arts and the determination to create affordable access to the performing arts throughout the UK and to become a household name. I don’t let anyone stop me from achieving my dreams and being told ‘no’ makes me more determined to succeed.

AF: What inspired you to start a school of performing arts at such a young age?
ZJ: I was offered a place at the National Youth Theater and couldn’t afford the course fees, so at the age of 16 I decided as a way to subsidize my fees I would create a performing arts company made up of young people and produce shows in order to provide a spotlight for young people to showcase their talent, not just on stage, but behind the scenes as well.

AF: How do you define success?ZJ: For me, success is being able to step back and acknowledge what you have achieved and feel very proud of it. Success comes in all shapes and forms, from a student telling me I have changed his or her life, to putting on a show, to taking the next steps to grow and expand my business. I think women need to understand that they have many moments of success everyday that need to be acknowledged to remind them of how brilliantly they are doing (not just the outcome of a huge project or journey).

AF: What motivates you on a daily basis to keep going?
ZJ: I am motivated by the positive response from the young people I work with growing in talent, performing with such enthusiasm and commitment and feeling more positive and confident about their futures.

I am also motivated by the exciting opportunities ahead as more organizations become aware of Living the Dream and are beginning to recognize our achievements to date and the potential of our business.

AF: What role do goals play in your life? Tell us a few words about your goal setting process.
ZJ: I write down my goals on a daily basis, both short and long term and have a clear idea of what I’m working toward. I set high goals that some may believe unrealistic, but I don’t stop until I achieve them by doing everything I can to make them happen. So far I have achieved everything I have set out to do. I find that visualizing my success helps me achieve my goals.

AF: How big of a role does mindset play in the performers that excel?
ZJ: Having a strong and positive mindset is crucial. I ensure that I am surrounded by like-minded, creative, enthusiastic, passionate, and positive people. This really helps my mindset to make me fearless, open to new ideas, and focused and strong while learning from my mistakes and excelling in my abilities to grow and expand my business.

AF: What’s the toughest challenge(s) you successfully overcame?
ZJ: The toughest challenge I have overcome has been when people don’t treat me seriously – they see me as a young naive girl. I have been exploited in the past and had my fingers burnt. I have successfully overcome these by always turning a negative into a positive and making certain that I learn from these experiences. I am beginning to be taken more seriously as my business grows.

AF: What are some of your most meaningful accomplishments?
ZJ: My most meaningful accomplishment would be setting up Living the Dream at the age of 16 in the middle of my a-levels and continuing this through my degree. For five years I produced, directed, and choreographed successful showcases each year.

Another meaningful accomplishment would be setting up the Living the Dream School of Performing Arts in October 2010 after I graduated from university and recovered from major surgery. We now have over 350 students attending our weekly classes and after school clubs.

The next would be our Flash-dance performance at St Pancras International on New Year’s Eve 2010. It involved over 100 young people who performed, choreographed, filmed, and edited this video (view video).

AF: What do the top performers do differently to excel?
ZJ: I think the top performers in business listen. We are all very good at talking, selling, and pushing new perspectives, but by listening to your customers about what they want and need, you engage them and gain their commitment. I also think that empowering the people around you to succeed, such as your staff (and in my case also my students) gives them more ownership and they feel more involved, passionate, and invested in their work.

The “Living in YOUR Top 1%” interview series is presented by Alissa Finerman, an Executive Coach and Gallup Certified Strengths Coach, speaker and author of Living in YOUR Top 1%. She works with managers, C-suite executives and teams to leverage strengths, shift beliefs and achieve meaningful goals. Alissa has an MBA from the Wharton School and a BA from the University of California, Berkeley. She has worked with Ross Stores, Petco, BNP Paribas, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, Brookfield Property Partners, Neutrogena, Bristol-Myers Squibb and Dress for Success. To learn more about coaching with Alissa, please visit her website and follow her on Facebook